Spirited Away: Fate Unraveled

Chapter One: One Summer's Day

Chihiro walked through a dark tunnel with her parents, clinging to her mother's hand. Their footsteps echoed off of the walls along with the sound of dripping water. Soon, they reached the end of the tunnel. Chihiro looked back and reluctantly went inside the car. Her dad said, "A new home and a new school? It is kind of scary."

            Chihiro replied, "I think I can handle it." And with that, as they drove down the bumpy road, her memories of Kamikakushi slowly but surely faded away...

Chapter 1: One Summer's Day...

It was a gorgeous, sunny day. Chihiro was leaving her friend's house, getting ready to walk to her local high school. It was the last day of high school for her as well as another special event. As she walked, she thought about her morning...

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" screamed Chihiro's phone for her morning alarm.

            "Ok, ok!" Chihiro mumbled as she groped around her bedside table to silence the alarm, "Just shut up already!" Her hand found the shiny, purple hair-band that she always wore. She didn't know where it had come from, but she had owned it for 7 years and wearing it had become a habit. She tumbled out of bed and started getting ready for the day. She had had a really weird dream last night. "Hmmmm... what was it about again?" she said to herself as she changed into skinny jeans and a t-shirt. "Someone was shouting my name... it was really dark... some boy in traditional clothes running toward me... I feel like I should know him..."

Little did she know that in the Spirit World, Haku, with all of his memories intact, had woken up yelling, "Chihiro!" and sweating after having the same dream. Haku forlornly gazed out of his window at the village and restaurants that surrounded the bathhouse. The lights seemed to taunt him. Haku had met Chihiro down there and had tried to save her. In the end, she had actually saved him...

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"Chihiro! Chihiro? Earth to Chihiro!"

"Wha?" replied Chihiro to her best friend, June, who had just waved her hand in front of  Chihiro's blank face as she stared off into space.

"Hey, Chihiro. You're drawing that guy again." said June.

"Huh? Oh." Chihiro looked down at her paper and sighed. "Yeah. I guess I am."

"You're always drawing him. Who is he anyway?"

"I'm not sure. I know I've met him, though," Chihiro mumbled as she let her mind wander again. Who WAS that boy? And why was he in my dream? Does it have something to do with the time Mom, Dad, and I got lost and disappeared for a month? I don't remember anything about that time except for driving through a forest and driving away from the same forest. Chihiro absentmindedly drew a blue, silver, and white dragon next to the boy.

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"Come on, Chihiro," June nudged her to get her out of dreamland. "Do you WANT to be late to the last day of your beloved music class?" June and Chihiro hurried out of the classroom and down the hallway.

"By the way, Chihiro," said June mischievously, "that boy you draw is REALLY hot. Are you completely and positively sure that you are not hiding any boys from me?"

"June! Seriously? I don't even KNOW this guy. As far as I know, he could be a figure of my imagination or someone I met that time I got amnesia."

"Whoa, girl. Are you talking about the time your parents..."

"Died in that car crash?" Chihiro finished. "No… What I'm talking about happened 3 years before that. It was when I just moved here. My dad decided to take a shortcut through some forest and I think something happened with... a stone statue? The next thing I know, we're driving out of the forest and neighbors are telling us a month had past. We went to a doctor, and he said that nothing was wrong." Chihiro shrugged as June stared at her in amazement.